Cheaper Food and Cheaper Energy

Cheaper energy will mean cheaper food. In fact, it means cheaper everything. Get the cost of energy down and we get the cost of living down.

Independent Green Voice supports renewable energy, and (unlike the so-called "Scottish Green Party"), we also see hydrocarbons (oil and gas) as always going to be essential to the maintenance of sufficient energy – which is essential to keep costs down, keep the heating and lights on, keep our country productive and prosperous; and especially essential to the construction of renewables in the first place.

After all, it is not as if "renewable energy" is hydrocarbon-free!

For example, a Wind Turbine needs crude oil-derived lubricants to keep it turning. It needs around 80-100 gallons changed every 1-3 years depending on its location. At 12,000 UK Turbines, that's a need for 1.2 million gallons of oil on a regular basis. But that's not very much when we consider how much hydrocarbon-derived energy has to go into the production, transport and erection of its body and blades, and into the production of the massive steel and cement structures which hold it in place. 

In this sense, we see opposition to the exploration, mining and production of hydrocarbons as industrially and economically illiterate, and highly damaging to our country.

3 GUIDING PRINCIPLES for a NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY

We advocate that Energy Policy should be based on the Principle of National Energy Independence – rather than "Net Zero for fear of Climate Change".

We base Energy Policy on the following principles:

1.  Energy Independence – at National, and also at Local and Personal Level

Guided by this first and most essential principle, energy mechanisms must be chosen for their ability to provide the necessary power, efficiently, at the appropriate level, whether National, Local or Personal. This will lead to a wide range of energy alternatives, including and especially the use of readily-available, easily accessible, relatively cheap "fossil fuels"; as well as those effective forms of renewable energy which are utilised where they can most efficiently be applied.

2.  Freedom from Pollution and Environmental Destruction

Guided by this principle we aim to reduce levels of toxic fumes in our atmosphere – such as those produced by fossil fuels in some areas such as city centres – but importantly without compromising the first essential principle of National Energy Independence, and without threatening the economic viability of city centres.

3.  Renewables are often best Applied on the Small-Scale

The concept of renewable energy flows from the heart of ecological awareness; which is the understanding that small is beautiful, that our footprints on the planet should be light, that we seek to live in harmony with nature. Renewable energy proposals must be applied within that understanding.

We believe wind power is best utilised on the small-scale, to provide an element of self-reliance and less pollution at the level of a home, a hotel, a farm, a business, a community, an institution, or a public sector building, with proper consideration given to planning permission. Such a principle in action would help people to "live off the grid". It would encourage them to utilise wind and solar energy for their own power generation, which could be sold to the National Grid if it generated more than they needed.

If we had an energy policy based on National Energy Independence, then "renewables" would always play a part, if applied appropriately where they are most efficient – that is, on small-scale, not industrial, levels.

See our 6 Renewable Energy Policies page for our advocacy of "Community-Owned Energy".

AN EXAMPLE of how EXPENSIVE ENERGY MEANS EXPENSIVE FOOD

We need energy to power our electricity, to build things, to keep us warm, to keep vehicles on the road, and to produce our food.

For example, modern farming requires high energy inputs, in particular, diesel to run the machines, and nitrogen fertiliser to help grow the crops.

Nitrogen fertiliser is produced by natural gas.

According to "Fertilizers Europe":

For nitrogen-based fertilizers, the largest product group, the process starts by mixing nitrogen from the air with hydrogen from natural gas at high temperature and pressure to create ammonia. Approximately 60% of the natural gas is used as raw material, with the remainder employed to power the synthesis process.

The ammonia is used to make nitric acid, with which it is then mixed to produce nitrate fertilizers such as ammonium nitrate (AN). Ammonia may also be mixed with liquid carbon dioxide to create urea. Both these products can be further mixed together with water to form UAN (urea ammonium nitrate) solution.

fertilizerseurope.com/fertilizers-in-europe/how-fertilizers-are-made/

That means that if our source of natural gas becomes scarce, then there will be less nitrogen fertiliser produced. This means it will become more expensive. This means that farmers will have to pay higher prices for their fertilisers. This production cost will get carried over into higher food prices at the end of the day.

It also means that the fields cannot support as many animals, and fewer crops can be grown. This means there will be less food, and so the price increases that way too.

This will drive some farmers out of business, which can also lead to higher food prices.

In short, if you wanted to make the cost of food higher, you would restrict the exploration, mining and production of hydrocarbons!

If you wanted to make people colder, you would restrict the exploration, mining and production of hydrocarbons!

If you wanted to make it harder for people to travel around their own country, you would restrict the exploration, mining and production of hydrocarbons, so that fuel prices went up!

If you wanted to de-industrialise the country; destroy small, medium and large manufacturing industries; and run down the economy, you would restrict the production of such energy.

Yet this is what our politicians are effectively doing to us.

A nation which refuses to exploit its abundant sources of energy is committing a financial crime against its own people!